Life-boat



(NoModel.)

D. DWYER.

LIFE BOAT.

110.320,341. Patented June 16, 1885.

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IINTTnn STaTns PATENT @Trina DANIEL Dil/YER, OF MARSHALL, TEXAS.

LIFE-BOAT.

SZDIGCEFCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,341, dated June 16,1885.

Application filed January 25, 1884. (No model.)

T 0 @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL Dwrnr, residing at Marshall, in the county of Harrison and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Boats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the specification, and in which- Figure l is a plan view of my improved lifeboat. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section, and Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a front and a vertical sectional detail view of the valve for the scuppers.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

My invention has relation to that class of life-boats which have air-chambers extending along the sides of the boat; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of such a boat, as hereinafter morefully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the letterA indicates thehull of the boat, the sides of which are flared out, so as to form a concave upper portion, B, which is above the water-line, and a convex lower portion, C, which is below the water-line, making the boat of a double ogee shape in cross-section.

Inside walls, D, are secured upontheinsides of the sides of t-he boat, conforming nearly in shape to the sides of the boat, and forming spaces or chambers E between the said walls and the sides of the boat, which are water and air tight, so as to form buoying air-chambers all around the boat.

A low gunwale, F, projects upward from the outer edges of the sides of the hull, and has the outer edges of the inside walls secured to it-s upper edge, so as to make the upper portion ofthe air-chamber larger than the lower portions where the inside walls converge into the sides of the boat, and thus cause the portions of the air-chambers which are above the water-line to possess a greater buoyancy than the lower portions which are in and below the water-line.

A rail or fender, G, is supported by means of suitable brackets, H, under the concave upper portions of the sides, protected bythe overhanging outer or upper edges of the same.

Inclined chutes or scuppers I are provided alternately at opposite sides of the boat, having an incline o't' about twenty degrees, and open through the lower portions of the sides of the boat with their outer ends, while their inner ends are nearly iush with the bottom of the boat at theirlower edges, and are provided with pivoted slides or shutters J, which are pivoted at their lower ends and provided with handles K at their upper ends, and cut off segmentally at their upper edges, having the center at the pivot, and fitting against similarlycurved flanges L at the upper edges of the scu pper tubes or chutes.

It will be seen that by having the upper portions of the sides of the hull concave and overhanging the breadth of beam of the boat will be increased, and the sea will be less liable to wash into the boat, as the waves will strikethe concave sides and be expelled, and in rolling the concave sides will offeraresistanee against being submerged which will greatly steady the boat in rough water.

rIhe overhanging sides will protect the rail around the boat, to which persons may cling, and when the boat is alongside of a vessel, wharf, or similar object persons in the water will not be in danger of being crushed between the boat and said vessel or other object bythe pitching and rolling of the vessel, inasmuch as there will be a space under the overhanging sides of the boat.

By having the air-chambers increasing in capacity toward the gunwale of the boat the upper portions of the sides will possess the greatest buoyancy, and consequently right the boat with ease, and the convex upper sides of the air-chambers will oder but slight resistance to the boat in righting it in the water, while the concave under sides of t-he chamber will offer great resistance against their immersion into the water.

By means of theinelined scupper-ehutes the water may readily run out by opening the slides at alternate sides as the boat rolls, and the said scuppers, being inclined, will offer a re-sistance to the water attempting to enter IOO through them, the water striking the inclined upper sides in the bores of the tubes, while the water from the inside may freely pass out.

I am aware that an ogee shape approximating the shape of the sides of my boat has been used in the construction of armor-clad vessels for the purpose of glancing off shot striking the inclined sides, and I am also aware that air tanks or chambers have been arranged at.' the sides of life-boats for the purpose of right ing them, and that fenders or rails have been secured around the sides of life-boats, and scuppers arranged in'the bottom of such boats, and I do not wish to make any broad claims for such constructions; but the peculiar points involved in the construction of my boat offer certain advantages and perform certain functions not performed in the aforesaid construction as heretofore carried out.

What I claim, and desire having the portions `of its sides above the water-line overhanging and concave and .hav-ing the portion of its sides below the water-line convex, with air-chambers having-theiri-nner walls curved corresponding to lthe curves of the upper portion of thesides and converging into the sides at their lower edges, the said' chambers increasing in capacity toward the upper edges of the sides of the hull, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

to secure by Let- A ters Patent of the United States, is, thereforel. In a life-boat, the combination of a hull 2. In a life-boat, the combination ofthe hull having the portions of its sides above the water-line overhanging and concave and having the portion of its sides below the water-line convex and provided with an upright gunwale around the edges of` its sides,with walls curved to correspond in shape to the sides of the hull, having their upper edges secured at the upper edges of the gunwale and having their lower edges converging into the sides below the Water-line, substantially as and for lthe purpose ,inner ends, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in l presence of two. witnesses.

' DANIEL DWYER.

Witnesses:

GUY L. DE MOTTE, A. W. KENDRICK.' 

